Trying to Forget the Truth
by WIWJ
Summary: Post ENDGAME Mulder and Scully try to lead a normal life in London, far from the Xfiles, the past and the truth. But we all know the truth has a way of catching up to you. I rate all my stories M.. just so I'm safe.. but it may be pretty PG
1. Chapter 1

He was speaking quietly with the receptionist. The woman had asked what he did for a living. She heard nothing, she was completely lost in the turning of the pages. Nothing registered.

"Doctor Fox?"

The file was unbelievable. She'd never encountered anything like it.She didn't knowhewas watching her flip through the pages in a desperate attempt to make some sense of the choice they were about to make. The risks they both knew all too well, but the pay off, the payoffs were something he'd missed completely. This time would be different though. She felt something clench inside of her chest. This time it had to be different.

"Doctor Fox?"

"Sweetheart?" She would never get used to him calling her that, it startled her out of her revelry. She turned in the direction of his voice and his soft eyes smiled at her. It was his public term of endearment. The real one, a forgotten name from a forgotten life, he only whispered to her in the dark of their bedroom.

"The doctor is ready to see you now." The receptionist smiled sweetly. Her husband extended his hand and she grasped it, letting him pull her into the office, still dumbstruck and clutching the folder.

"Hello." A tall middle aged man stood behind his desk in front of a wall of baby pictures that made them both more than a little uncomfortable. "I'm doctor Nicholas Tandy."

"Sam Fox." She felt his hand drop away and watched as he shook hands with the man. "This is my wife Katherine."

"Doctor Fox it's nice to finally meet you in person. Melissa has spoken so much about you." The man's clipped British accent made him sound older than he was. She smiled softly as her husband pulled out a chair and gestured her to sit.

"She's a wonderful nurse. You should be very proud of her." The words left her mouth automatically, she reached absently for her partner's hand and found it. He twisted their fingers together tightly.

"Oh we are." Tandy smiled at a photo on his desk. "So Rebbecka tells me you have concerns about picking a donor?" Her mouth slipped open when he looked at her.

"More like questions." She heard the man beside her ask. "Katherine and I have waited along time for this. We just want to be sure we're making the right choice for us."

"You've tried to conceive naturally and failed?" The man leaned forward and looked at her husband with concern.

"Katherine went through Chemotherapy and Radiation treatments several years ago." He swallowed hard, she quickly tightened her hold on him. "It left her unable to have children. Before.. the illness.. we.. three ovum were harvested.." He held the mans eyes with his own before taking a deep breath. "We conceived our son through in vitro fertilization."

She looked down, swallowing against the bitter taste in her mouth as he continued.

"There were.. genetic abnormalities." He continued softly. "He's no longer with us."

"I'm terribly sorry." The man's sincerity struck her, she felt her eyes start to tear.

"Thank you." She whispered, waiting for him to continue.

"Although you know there are no guarantees our donors do participate in a variety of genetic test." She nodded.

"Katherine's first pregnancy was difficult. She had a placental abruption and a great deal of bleeding with delivery." It was his turn feel the panicky feeling and she knew it, pulling her thumb across his knuckles. "I just want to make sure that every precaution is taken."

He let go of her hand before wandering towards the wall of photos, tracing his fingers across the border of the frame before turning towards the man studying his wife. She saw him slowly reach out his hand to his neck.

"Your tag is showing." He muttered pressing two fingers down near the base of the man's scull to remedy the imaginary situation. The doctor made a curious face, but his relaxed.

"Sorry." He said sheepishly grinning. "It's a pet peeve."

"Of course." The doctor looked at her inquisitively before continuing. "You've chosen a donor that you wanted to meet with?"

"Yes." She nodded shooting her eyes to the man next to her. "We have."

* * *

The man formally known as Fox Mulder knew that the best way to lie was too keep it as close to the truth as possible. He also knew that the truth would hit him like a ton of bricks as soon as his guard was down.

So he wasn't even that surprised when he woke in a cold sweat later on that night to climb over his wife and out onto the small balcony of there London flat.

This risk that they were taking haunted him enough, but the past, the past that had to be drug up and laid out in front of him to do it made him crazy.

"Hey." He had heard her moving behind him before she spoke but he still jumped when she did.

"Hi." He smirked, glancing over his shoulder at her before back out at the street.

"Are you okay?" She hummed leaning her cheek against his bare back.

"Yeah. I'm fine." He lied as she wrapped her thin arms around him.

"Really?" She turned him to face her with a mocking lift of her eyebrow. "You're fine?"

"Yeah." He rubbed his hand over his face before taking her hands in his.

"No lingering concerns about the nape of Tandy's neck?"She teased, he opened one eye and squinted at her wincing.

"What? I'm wrong to be concerned?" He tightened his eyelids closed before looking at her in exhaustion.

"I just thought those days were over." She told him frankly.

"I'm just making sure they are." He muttered pressing his face into her hair.

"You have a nine am class." She reminded him, feeling him nod against her. "Come back to bed."

Another nod. She pulled him across the floor and onto the queen size bed that took up more than half of the room. His leg draped around her possessively, almost as if he was afraid they'd come in the night and take her away. Again.

"Scully?" He whispered softly into the dark. She closed her eyes with a smile and rubbed her cheek against his.

"Mulder?" He sighed, pulling her tight against his body.

"We're doing the right thing?" She knew that voice, the all to familiar doubt slipping into his always gentle tone.

"There is no way to know for sure." She told him honestly. "But we can't just sit around and wait for the end of the world now can we?"

"It's easier to do when you know the date." He teased.


	2. Chapter 2

"Ah, but Karen you're forgetting a very basic principle." She leaned against the door frame watching his student tilt her face back up to him.

"What's that Sir?" The girl whispered.

"Urban Legends exist for **two** reasons." He grinned at her sitting on the edge of his desk. "To teach a moral lesson like you told us.. and?"

A young man's hand shot up. She studied him. This must be Jeffery. It had to be.

"Jeffery!" Her husband shouted tossing his hand towards his groupie. "Enlighten us!"

"They have a basis in truth, Sir." The boy barked. "They're has to be some truth behind it. Some origin."

"Thank you!" He quipped tossing the hand into the air before letting it drop to his lap. "Even the most bizarre legends have some truth to them."

"What about the Lockness Monster?" A blond girl asked raising an eyebrow.

"A nonbeliever among us?" She watched the way his face lit up, she should sit in on his classes more often. She missed that look. "Someone saw something. Right? Something big that they couldn't explain. Maybe it was an eel or a seal or a beaver for that matter.. but it was based in truth."

"But personal truth and scientific fact aren't the same thing." The blond shook her head slowly.

He looked up at his wife, noticing her in the door way and smiled winking his eye.

"Here." He said happily gesturing her into the room. "Here's someone who knows something about scientific fact. "This is my wife. She's a doctor she's very factual."

"Hi." She waved sheepishly.

"Sweetheart, tell the future leaders of our world that science can't explain everything." He said smugly plopping back on the desk.

"When given all the facts.. science can explain almost everything." She shot a look at her husband. "But getting to the facts is sometimes more difficult than it may seem."

"And sometimes our understanding of science hasn't caught up with what the facts are trying to tell us." He countered moving to face her.

"True." She smiled at him.

"That's enough Science for Sociology class." He shook his head. "Go." The class started filling out behind them. "Don't forget to read!" He watched them walk by. "I'll know if you don't."

"Nice to meet you Doctor Fox." Jeffery grinned at her. "I'm Jeffery."

"Back Jr. She's taken." His instructor told him playfully.

"Goodnight Sir." He told him still grinning as he scooted out the door.

"So." She raised an eyebrow at him he smirked at her. "That's Jeffery."

"Ah, my protégé, yes." He shook his head. "He watches all the shows. He reads all the books. He was even a fan of the guys." His smile turned slightly sad when he talked about the Lone Gunmen. She rubbed her hand up and down his arm. The corners of his mouth lifted up again and he kissed her forehead. "To what do I owe this visit?"

"She's ready to meet with us."

"Really?" He looked at her for a second. "Now."

She nodded slowly.

"Did you bring the thing?" She held up the small box, shaking her head mockingly. "I-. It has to be-."

"I know." She said softly holding his eyes.

"I'm glad you feel safe." He rubbed his face.

"Maybe you should try it some time." She said softly, reaching out for his hand. He let her pull him out of his classroom.

* * *

"I understand your concerns Professor Fox."

"Please call me Sam." He smiled what he hoped was sincerely. She was beautiful, he studied the way she moved, brushing her strawberry blond hair over her shoulder. She looked like his dead sister-in-law, that made him nervous. He knew that was a big part of why Scully had been drawn to her photo, but part of him thought maybe it was a little too convenient. "So you wouldn't mind?"

"If you were there in the room? No not at all."

"There were a lot of problems with our son." His wife whispered softly. He squeezed her shoulder.

"I understand." She nodded her head why she spoke.

"Well then." He said softly, reaching into his pocket and cupping the small velvet box. It was the moment of truth. "We have a gift for you."

The woman's pale features brightened in surprise as he pulled out the box and handed it to her revealing a small gold cross.

"It's lovely." She breathed, he extended his hand.

"May I?" He almost sighed in relief when she nodded handing him back the necklace. His wife smiled at him as he pulled back the woman's hair, his thumbs skating across the base of her neck as he closed the hook. She alone got to see how his eyes had slipped closed, and how his shoulders finally relaxed.

* * *

"I'm confused as to why he isn't interested in having his sample checked for genetic abnormalities." The geneticist shook his head at her.

"The abnormalities were from my ovum." She told him. "We're sure of that."

"It helps insure that the correct sperm is chosen for the procedure."

"My husband is concerned that the genetic manipulation may have played a part in our son's abnormality." She swallowed hard.

"Surely as a scientist-." For a moment she worried his head was going to shake off of his body.

"I'm not entirely sure he's incorrect." She quipped.

"He wants to watch the entire procedure?"

"Yes." She said firmly. "Is there a reason why you are uncomfortable with it?"

"Would you be comfortable with a nervous person watching over your shoulder why you worked?" He raised his eyebrows. She smiled widely. She'd had the pleasure of this particular person looking nervously over her shoulder while she worked.

"He'll behave." She told him softly.

"Doctor Fox."

"Brice you were chosen because I trust you." She tried to suppress a giggle when she heard her husbands voice in her head stating he was also chosen because his short hair made his neck visible.

"Thank you Katherine." He sighed, rolling his eyes. "I'm sure it will be fine. How paranoid can one guy be?"


	3. Chapter 3

**A/N This chapter is purely transition.. it sucks.. I'm setting up some stuff here, but I don't explain anything.. so.. forgive me.**

**I know that Gibson has always been a strange kid.. but I mean even a teenage mindreadingg****enius ****has to go through rebellion right?**

* * *

"Paranoid?" Monica rolled her eyes back into her head before meeting John's tired expression. "Did you just tell me I'm being paranoid?" 

"He's a teenager." John shook his head. "A teenage boy."

"Who can read minds."

"I didn't say there weren't extenuating circumstances that make raising him.. more difficult."

"He's lying John." She huffed. "The only thing keeping him apart from other teenagers who lie is that he can read my mind and know that I know he's lying."

"That made no sense." John watched her pace across the kitchen floor.

"Are you going to talk to him or not?" His partner turned her head slightly and looked at him in a way that left little room for doubt.

"Or not?" He asked hopefully.

"John!" Monica moaned.

"Gibson!" John walked to the stairs and called his foster son again. "Gibson come down here please."

The teen lumbered slowly down the steps, looking at John for a long minute.

"You know I believe you." John said rolling his eyes into his head. "But you're going to have to convince Monica."

"John Doggett!" Reyes stomped her foot onto the first step of the stairwell. "So much for a united front."

"The boy can read minds Monica. He knows where we both stand on the issue. You know we both stand at an impasse." He tossed his hands into the air.

"You just believe him?"

"He's not your typical teenager."

"Maybe he should be!" She decided shaking her head back and forth. "Maybe we should all work a little harder on-."

"You don't believe that." He shot at her. "You're standing here lying. You don't think I'll ever be anywhere near normal."

"Gibson." Monica moaned. "John!"

"What have I told you about reading her mind when she's asked you not to?" Doggett shook his head. "She asked you not to."

"I can't tune her out like you can." He muttered.

"John!"

"Gibson!"

The doorbell stopped the shouting momentarily. Monica turned to inform the men in her life this was far from over, until she saw the look on Gibson Price's face.

"What is it?" She put her hand on the boys arm.

Doggett reached for his gun, touching it to reassure himself as he looked through the hole in the door.

"Spender?" He muttered opening it. The scarred man looked at him before moving his gaze to Monica then to Gibson.

"I need your help." Jeffery Spender didn't move his gaze.

"Our help with what?" Monica spat almost angrily, he knew better than to come here.

"I need you to tell me where my brother is."

"The hell we will." John growled.

"Trust him." Gibson said slowly. Monica tightened her grip on him, watching the boy stare into Spender's eyes.

"Gibson don't say a word."

"Please." The man looked at Doggett.

"London." The boy said almost mechanically.

"Gibson!" John yelled.

"4 Knaresbough South West Earls Court, Near Kensington." The words came out like water from a faucett.

"Gibson!" The other man came between Spender and the boy. "We agreed we'd tell no one! We agree-."

"John." Monica met his frantic eyes. "The boy can read minds. He knows where we all stand on the issue."


	4. Chapter 4

**A/N: I always finish my stories so don't worry.. but this one is taking a long time to play out.. sorry!**

**Lori**

**(JFK International Airport.)**

If you didn't know better, it would have looked like any other family vacation. A disgruntled teenager arguing with his ridged father, his back arching away from him indignantly while his peace keeper wife clutched his arm in warning. If you didn't know better it all looked perfectly safe and simple.

But Jeffery Spender knew better. He adjusted the collar of his jacket again, bordering somewhere between wanting to hide his deformity and not wanting to look like the spy in every bad Bond knock off ever made.

"My son has a metal plate in his head." John Dogget said unceremoniously , gaining an eye roll from the young man and the woman. He dropped the necessary paperwork onto the table and rubbed his face.

"Don't you think it would have been more sympathetic to speak softer?" Monica moaned.

"What? He knows he has a plate in his head."

"John."

The man from security looked over the X-rays and waved the wand around Gibson for a few minutes before nodding.

Monica made eye contact with Spender, he nodded briskly at her. She leaned in and whispered something to Gibson, the boy's head turning slowly around the terminal before shaking his head quickly.

Rayez made her way over to him, turning her lips up at the corners.

"He says it's fine." Monica shook her head. "You have to trust him."

"There are things he doesn't know." Jefferey warned looking past her, giving a discrete nod to a middle aged woman and her child.

Monica turned around, studying the face of the boy.

"It can't be." She whispered softly, her eyes fixed on the toddlers..

**(London England)**

He heard her get up again, stirring beside him before making her way to the door. He waited a few minutes before following her out of the room.

"You okay?"

"Yes Mulder I'm fine. Quit asking me that." His eyebrows shot up for a second. "Sorry."

"You can't sleep?" She shot him a look.

"I can't sleep." She huffed sitting down at the table. He moved a chair beside her and sat down.

"Was it like this before?" The man ran his hand over the roundness of her abdomen.

"I guess so." She said softly.

"You guess so?"

"I don't really remember." She smoothed her palm across her face, stopping to look at him for a second. "It was a difficult time for me."

He kept his eyes on her stomach.

"You should go to bed Mulder you have class tomorrow." She whispered to him, pressing his hand down with hers until she was sure he felt what she did.

"Does she do that all night?"

"He does." She grinned at him, putting emphasis on the pronoun. He smiled back at her belly, she watched his forehead crinkle for a moment.

"Did William?" He rarely mentioned him by name. It startled her when he did.

"Not this much. He was calmer." She pulled his hand up into hers and traced his palm with her thumb.

"More like his mother." He whispered. Scully let the silence sit between them for a moment. They rarely spoke of things like this. They rarely spoke of life before London, almost as if they did it would come get them and drag them back. Not that they didn't miss it.

"When he was tired.." She began softly, taking his hand in both of hers. "He'd rub his eyes with the back of his hand just like you do." She watched a tentative smile form on his tight lips, trying to judge weather or not to continue. Mulder pulled himself carefully to his feet, pulling her along, leading her back into their bedroom.

"Tell me more." He asked her in a low voice, pulling her onto the bed and adjusting the blankets around her before spooning his body against hers, his hands wrapped protectively around their child.

"He would laugh at old movies. Old black and whites, especially when the music would build up, like in a chase scene. That always made me think of you." Mulder pressed his face into her shoulder. "Oh, and when I was in my first trimester I always wanted sunflower seeds."

"You're kidding me." He breathed lifting his head up again.

"No I swear." He could hear the smile in her voice. It made him smile to.

"I can't believe you never told me that." He laughed.

"We don't talk about it." She told him, her voice dropping down to a more serious tone. He kissed her shoulder, trying to think of what he wanted to say and how he needed to say it. "Mulder?"

"I missed everything." He told her sadly. Scully tightened her grip on his arms, moving her cheek against the side of his face. "From Day one."

"You didn't have a choice."

"I did though didn't I? For a while there.. from when I came back and when I left.. I could have done better." She closed her eyes at the catch in his voice. "I could have done better by you."

"Mulder.. you were there.." She protested weakly.

"Not like I should have been." He stopped her. "We had a chance, there was a window between when I got back and when William was born where we could have left."

"Mulder stop, we didn't know."

"I wasn't there for you. I didn't protect you like I should have. I was.." He stopped, rolling onto his back away from her.

"You were what?" She whispered into the dark room.

"Terrified."

"Of what?"

"You."

"Me?"

"Loosing you." She had to strain to hear him now. She put all her effort into rolling over to face him, tracing her fingers across his pain filled face. "Condemning you to a life with me. A life with the X-files." She watched him for a moment, waiting for him to finish. "Loosing you." He repeated pathetically.

"Mulder you're never going to loose me." She told him soothingly, cupping her hand around his face. "Not then, not now. As for condemning me.. I think we were way past that point by then."

"I didn't know where I stood." He shook his head a little. "I didn't know what you wanted me to do.."

"I didn't know either. I just wanted you back." He brought his hands up and brushed the tears from her face. "I was tired of being alone and I wanted you back."

"I just keep thinking if we could have done things differently.." She smiled at him, her eyes slipping shut.

"This time we've done everything right." She told him. "You looked in the closet and under the bed, no monsters."

"I don't tell you enough." He confessed softly, bringing his lips to hers. "That I love you."

"You don't have to tell me." She pressed her forehead against hers. "I know."

"Tell me more about our son." He asked her, pulling her to his chest.

"What do you want to know?"

"Everything."


	5. Chapter 5

"Mulder." It's all the other man says before Sam Fox sits up in bed. Beside him, his wife stirs. "Don't hang up." 

"I'm sorry who are you looking for?" He says slipping out of bed and out of the bedroom. He glances at his watch, he knows that he has two minutes before he can be traced. "I believe you have the wrong-."

"Shut up. I know you're watching the time. So lets get to it." He knows that voice.

"Jeffery?" His brother's name is out of his mouth before he can stop himself.

"Oh Brother Where Art thou?"

"I.." He looks back towards the bedroom.

"Come to Paris. I'll be waiting for you. Being Scully, she's not safe there alone."

"We can't, not now." He looks back towards the bedroom. Then he says it, the one thing that will make him put his pregnant wife on a plane.

"I have him."

* * *

"I still don't understand." John Dogit glanced across the room to where Monica sit's wreastling cherrios into the toddler before her.

"A DFS file appeared on my desk." Mulder's brother began.

"It's impossible." Dogit shook my head. "There is nothing linking him to either of them. Monica and I made sure of it."

"I can't explain it. All I can tell you is what happened." John lowered his head, watching himself unfold his hands before tightly refolding them. It was starting again and there was nothing he could do to stop it.

"I knew I should ignore it. I knew I should just shred it-. I couldn't do it." Spender rubbed a hand across the normal side of his face. "I went to see them."

"Knowing that you could be putting-."

"John." Monica called softly, before lifting the spoon towards the reluctant boy again. Gibson moved his hand to stop her, slowly shaking a few cheerio's free from the box and slipping them towards the child. He eyed the other boy oddly before bringing the food to his lips with chubby fingers. Monica fingered a few strans of the teenagers hair before moving to the other side of the room and settling beside Dogit and gesturing to Jeffery. "Please.."

"It was like he knew who I was."

"You'd never even met him." Dogit growled.

"I know that Agent Dogit. I'm telling you the child knew who I was." He shook his head. "The report said he was withdrawn and antisocial but he came right to me. He.." Spender stopped, looking towards the table where the two boys blinked wordlessly at eachother. "He asked if it was time to go home yet."

* * *

"You okay?" Mulder studied her, his eyes sweeping down and across her pregnant body.

"It's hard to get comfortable." She arched her back again.

"I'm sorry." He sighed rubbing the closest shoulder to him.

"For what? The sudden in the middle of the night run for the nearest border or this?" She pointed to her abdomen with mild amusement.

"I couldn't have talked you out of that if I wanted to." He smiled pressing his index finger agaist her shirt.

"So.. the sneaky country hopping?"

"You know if I didn't think it was.."

"I know." She sighed, rolling her head back towards him. "How afraid should I be?"

He studied her for a second before looking away.

"Hey..." Her voice was soft. "You don't have to do this alone. I'm just pregnant."

"Yes.." He rasped, lifting his eyes up to hers. "And once again we're fleeing."

"Deja vu?" She said sympathedically.

"A little." He rubbed his face.

"What's going on Mulder." She whispered, lacing her hand in his and pulling it away from his cheek.

"What if I told you we were either about to get everything we ever wanted or make the biggest mistake of our lives?" She grimaced for a second at his anguished tone before kissing his palm.

"I'd say what's new."


	6. Chapter 6

"Where is he?" Dana Scully gulped back her tears and reached out her arm to Monica Reyes.

"He's with John." The woman said quickly motioning for Scully to sit. "You need to hear this before you see him."

"Is he alright?" Scully pressed her lips together, catching the tears streaming down her face. "Is he sick?"

"Sick?"

"Like Emily." She whispered. "Like my little girl."

"No." Monica shook her head. "He's fine. He's more than fine Dana he's amazing."

"Tell me."

"He's like Gibson, only.. " She stopped and shook her head slowly. "More.."

"He can read minds?"

"Gibson says so." She shook her head. "But there's more." She swallowed hard before trying to continue. "Do you remember when William was born. How they came to witness.. like he was.. "

"a miricle.."

"He is more."

* * *

Jeffery Spender was surprised he welled up when he saw his brother, swallowing back tears as the man approached.

"Where?" Mulder whispered, his grip closing desperately around his brothers shoulder.

"Come with me."

"I dont want to be away from Scully for long."

"You won't be." He promised, making his way back through the corridor. "She's fine with Reyes. Your son's in danger Mulder."

"From who?"

"People against what he represents."

"He's a three year old. What does he represent?"

"You can't possibly down play his significant's Mulder."

"His significants?"

"The child of a baren mother, born in an abandon shack, adored by many, hunted by some.." His eyes glowed for a second, before the tears broke free and tracked his cheeks. "A boy with abilities beyond the human race. He's a mircle come to save us Mulder, and you've been chosen to be his protector."

"Chosen by who?" Fox Mulder asked in awe.

"I don't know."

* * *

Gibson Price looked up from the boy who had suddenly stopped coloring and met his foster fathers eyes.

"What?"

"They're here."

"He knows?"

Gibson exchanged glances with the little boy before nodding at Dogit. John nodded, lifting William into his arms and starting towards the door. Monica's key turned in the door, she grinned softly at him when the door opened. Scully stepped forward, keeing one hand locked in Mulder's as her face brightened.

"William?" She extended her hand to him, stopping short of his cheek as if he would vanish.

"Mommy." He whispered softlly reaching out his chubby arms to her. She released her husband and pulled the little boy to her, running her hands through his brown locks and crying softly. The boy's head rose and he locked eyes with Fox Mulder. "Daddy."


	7. Chapter 7

AN: I am sorry it's been so long. I'm going to try to have this story done by the end of may, so I should update faster. I don't like this chapter but it's important.

Fox Mulder leaned back against the hard rails of the rocking chair, looking at his son's wide eyes starring back at him.

"You don't sleep?" He whispered softly. "It's fun. Daddy likes to sleep. Mommy is sleeping. God willing, your baby sister's going to sleep."

"Mulder?" He looked up to the small knock on the door.

"Jeffrey." He looked up to see his brother slip through the door. He dropped down to Mulder's level and looked at his nephew. "I don't know how to thank you. You put yourself in danger for-"

"You're my brother." He whispered softly. Mulder nodded slowly. "He's come to save the world."

"He's just a little boy."

"He's our savior. I truly believe that Mulder.." Jeffery watched the boy in wonder as his cubby fingers reached towards his face.

"Jeffery I-." The sudden glow of light stopped him. Spender moved away slowly and Mulder's hand caught Williams as it fell away. He ran his eyes over the boy quickly before glancing at his brother. "Are you okay?"

Spender lifted his face back to him nodding slowly. Mulder gasped.

"What?"

"Your face." Spenders hand rose, gently touching the once scarred cheek, finding it smooth beneath his fingers. He looked from Mulder to William.

The little boy gazed at him, before looking back at his father with droopy eyelids. Mulder watched them close, his little thumb coming up to his mouth as they did.

"Amen." Jeffery whispered breathlessly.

* * *

"I don't understand." She whispered, moving back the locks of hair on her sleeping son's forehead. "How?"

"There's plenty about my son I don't understand." Monica said slowly. "I don't think we're meant to understand Dana." She looked across the room to where Gibson sat next to his father, talking quietly to Mulder and Spender. His voice soft and wise beyond his sixteen years. "He should be going to football games with his friends not explain the second coming to the founding fathers of the FBI Rejects."

Dana chuckled a little before biting her lip.

"We were kidding our selves weren't we?" She asked, giving Monica a bemused smile. "Thinking we could just have nice normal lives, relax and wait for the end of the world to come to us."

"How was it? Your nice normal life?" Monica asked playfully.

"Eah.." Sully quipped. "Yours?"

"Overrated." She smiled widely before raising her eyes towards the men. "We should get back to it."

Dana nodded, lowering the boy back to the bed and following Monica to the table. Mulder slid out of his chair and pulled her towards it, placing a kiss on her temple.

"So." Jeffery Spender looked up. "The way I see it? We have nine years to convince the world."

"So what?" Mulder asked incredulously. "We load up the gang and go from city to city having my toddler multiply fish for people?" Dana leaned back against him, whispering his name. He took a deep breath.

"Well maybe if you two would have gotten your act together sooner he'd be a teenager by now." Dogit snorted. Scully dropped her head into her hands, feeling her husbands grip squeeze her shoulders. "We have two options. Sit around and do nothing or fight."

"I won't." Scully said firmly. "I won't sacrifice my children for the greater good. I won't do it." She shot her eyes to Monica who was studying Gibson's concerned face. He looked towards her and she cupped her hand around his cheek. "Monica."

"Right now?" Monica said softly, looking at John. "Right now we sleep."

"Mon, I-."

"Tomorrow we make lists." She nodded. "Of people.. of situations. We think." She met her son's eyes. "You can help us determine who is safe.."

He nodded, before shifting his eyes to Mulder.

"I'll need your help too." He told him softly. Scully felt him stiffen, bringing her hand up where his rested on her shoulder and holding it firmly.

He nodded curtly, eyes dropping to the carpet. Gibson nodded at Reyes again.

"Let's go to bed." She said firmly, giving John a long once over before slowly extending her hand to him. He took it leading his family towards the door with a quick look back at Fox Mulder, still looking down at the floor. He didn't move until the door closed around spender and he and Scully were left with William in the small room.

"He's asking you to-?"

"I'm not sure I can do it."

"You'll try?"

"I don't think I have much of a choice do you?" He kissed the top of her head and moved to where William lay, dropping down beside him. "He's the little boy Scully. The boy from my dreams. The boy from the beach. He's been calling to me. My whole life, he's been..." She stood in front of him, tracing her fingers across his face." What we have to do.. it's impossible."

"We've done the impossible before Mulder." She reminded him, feeling his hands clutch her hips and pull her down to his lap. He wound himself around her tucking his head beneath her chin.

"We have." His voice was almost a whimper now, she pulled from his grasp and tugged him down on the bed beside her, moving her body until William lay between them. "He's just a little boy."

"He's stronger than us all." She told him, spreading her fingers across his face and kissing him over the top of their child's head. He settled his other hand over he baby tucked safely inside of her, inching under her t-shirt until he could trace over her soft skin.

"You're feeling alright?"

"We're fine Mulder." She took her hand from his face and joined the one on her abdomen. "This is hope. This is our destiny. She looked down at William. "All of our destinies."


	8. Chapter 8

**A/N I will finish this story. I promise. I won't abandon it.**

* * *

St. Ann's Catholic Church

Normandy Missouri

(Four weeks later)

"As we wait, in joyful hope, for the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ."

Mulder moved beside her, she found his hand by William shoe, lacing her fingers with his. She watched as he moved his eyes around the room to where his brother stood by the door, hands folded neatly as he knelt. John Dogget nodded slightly, as Monica whispered something to her son. Scully's head dropped slightly as she turned her face into Mulder's arm.

"You doing alright?" He whispered softly, she nodded. "Need to sit?"

"Not yet." She tightened her grasp a little and he winced at her.

"Sure?" She nodded back.

They made there way through communion line, Mulder moving to the side as Scully took.

"How we doing?" Monica whispered in his ear as she walked past.

"She says she's okay."

"Gibson says she's scared."

"Aren't we all?"

Monica kept walking as Mulder turned back towards his wife, making his way back to the pew. He knelt beside her, his own plea's echoing in his head. Her staggered painful breath pulled him out of it, carefully laying his hand on her back as she arched in ever so slightly. He glanced at her face, biting his lip at how her eyes clamped shut.

They remained a few seconds as the Church slowly cleared. William asleep on his fathers shoulder as Mulder spoke softly in her ear as her body calmed.

Monica smiled slightly at her as they joined the rest of the group at the lobby. Mulder looked quickly at Gibson.

"You're sure?"

The boy nodded slowly turning his face towards the doors.

"He recognized us." Gibson looked at his father. John watched him glance back the door. "He's coming."

The small man hurried back though the door, looking over the group momentarily before readjusting his glasses and combing his hands through his brown hair.

"You have two hours to convince me." He said clapping his hands together in front of him.

"Are you Father Kempf?" Dogett asked moving forward slowly.

"You should already know that shouldn't you?" The man stated, unimpressed.

"My partner's the Thomas in the group." Monica mused. "Our son knows who you are."

"Yes. John the Baptist." He looked Gibson up and down for a moment. The teenager's eyes seemed to probe him. "In the flesh."

"You believe us. You want us to think your a skeptic but your not." Gibson stated. "You want to help. You just don't want to loose face."

"Is that so?"

"Yes."

"We don't have time for this." Mulder shook his head, glancing at his wife before moving William forward, turning the boy in his arms.

"Behold the second coming of Christ." The man muttered looking over the sleeping boy.

"You know that's not what we believe him to be." Mulder shook his head.

"And you know that's what some fear him to be." Kempf countered. "Born, by mysterious ways, in a shack, adored by wanderers. He heals. What do you call him?"

"We prefer William." Dana spoke, her voice weak behind Mulder's body. He dropped his shoulders and turned to her. Jeffery took the boy from his arms.

"She should be in a hospital." The priest assessed, taking in the woman's pale face.

"You know that's not possible." Doget hissed, watching Mulder wipe his thumb across Scully's brow. "We need a safe place."

The man eyed William, who stirred slightly. His face turning serenely towards the man as he woke, locking eyes with the other man for a second, his thin fingers reacting out and touching the white collar. Bill Kempf let a slow smile slip across his lips as he nodded in understanding.

* * *

Pierre Marquette Camp Ground 

Near Grafton Illinois

"She's in labor." The young woman leaned back on her heels and studied the scene unfolding in the room. "Did her water break?"

"She's had a fever for days, been weak. Contractions started this morning. She's just 32 weeks." They stood together, watching Mulder lay her down on the small metal cot. Sitting beside her, carefully, rubbing circles on her back. "Her water broke when we left the church."

"I won't be able to do much for the baby." She swallowed hard. "I can help her as well as I know how, but I haven't dealt with preemies. Not that early anyway."

"We understand. We're hoping for a miracle." She glanced back at her son, where he sat beyond the screened door with William on his lap. "Yet another miracle."

"The boy? Father says he's the second coming."

"He's special."

"He heals?"

"He _has_ healed." Monica clarified. "We don't understand how." She looked back into the room when Sully cried out in pain. "He couldn't help her."

"I can." The girl nodded. "I think I can."

* * *

He cleared his mind like Gibson had taught him, meeting her eyes and holding them firmly in his as her breathing became ragged again. She tilted her chin away when the pain started to build, trying to spare him her pain. He pulled her face back to him, she regripped his hand pressing her lips together. 

He opened his mind to her slowly, letting her fear and pain slip in and forcing his calm to her. Her breathing evened with his as the small woman crept into the room with Monica. Her eyes passed between them before she looked at the other woman. Who nodded at her as she sat on the edge of the cot and pushed back Sully's skirt and rolled down her panties.

"She's at seven centimeters." She glanced at Monica again. "Completely effaced. It won't be long now, by the morning."

"Her last labor was quick." Monica added. "Much faster than this. She only had pains for a few hours."

"This won't go that quickly." She grinned. Scully's body tensed again and Mulder gasped. Monica watched Dana's eyes rip from his, crying out in pain as she did. He made a quick move to pull her back.

"No." She cried, curling her body on it's side. He kissed her neck.

"Scully.." He almost pleaded.

"I can do it.. just.. hold my hand.."

"Okay." He kissed her fingers. "Okay.."


	9. Chapter 9

**Camp grounds**

"She can't take much more of this." Monica whispered, feeling John's arms wrap around her from behind. She leaned back letting her eyes fall shut.

"Come on. You should sleep some." He told her softly. She took a breath to protest as Scully let out a low anguished moan. The girl moved to the end of the bed, rolling her from her side. Mulder braced her shoulders to keep her from moving back as she yelled in protest.

"I can't just-." Reyes argued weakly.

"Yes you can." He said softly, pulling her back from the door. "Come to bed."

* * *

"No. Please." She moaned again, trying to force herself back to her side. 

"Scully let her check you." Mulder pleaded, his hands cupping her thin shoulders.

"No." She whimpered. Her body pulled up to a half seated position as a look of panic crossed her features. "Oh no!"

"That's good. Keep pushing. Keep going." The girl scrambled closer to her legs.

"I can't." Scully moaned quietly, her body shaking dramatically. "I need to rest. I need to-. Mulder I need to rest."

He looked at the young woman quickly, she shook her head at him.

"You gotta keep going Sweetheart." He told her as she dropped her head against his chest. She moved her head back and fourth with a small whimper, but he could see the strain of exertion on her face.

"Good Dana, good." The midwife whispered. "Not much longer."

Mulder pressed his lips to her head.

"Give me a little more." She pleaded. Mulder sheered himself up against her and took a slow breath just like Gibson had taught him. His wife's eyes shot open, turning to look at his. He focused on her watching as she took a staggered breath.

"You can't protect her from this." He whispered out loud, watching her face break into an almost relieved look of appreciation. He nodded again watching her eyes flash with newly sharp pain as she was pulled into one last push.

* * *

There was a cry, but not of a newborn. Doggit swallowed hard at the low sorrowful sound from his former partner.

Father Kempf leaned forward in the chair he had settled in, his fingers again clutching the rosary beads and starting to pray.

Gibson slid slowly from the small cot and padded across the smooth muddy path between the two cabins. His mother had sat up when the door creeked open, but John had pulled her back down slowly.

"I should.."

"Let him."

There was a protest from the other cabin before he returned with a small blanket and a motionless infant. He dropped to his knee's before William, who's crisp blue eyes opened imdiatly, sweeping down to his tiny sister. He looked back at Gibson, the older boys lips were tight, but his eyes gave away the message between them before the toddlers hand slipped out from the blankets and settled on the baby's still chest.

Kempf leaned forward, studiously watching the exchange as her ribcage rose slowly beneath him. The color poured into her features as another pair of blue eyes hit Williams before letting out a hearty wail.

Monica's mouth slipped slowly open before she shifted her eyes to John. Who shook his head slowly.

"He is The Christ." The priest decided breathlessly, dropping from his chair to kneel before the boy. From the doorway, Fox Mulder stood frozen, tears of relief and awe tracing paths down his red cheeks.


End file.
